As someone said to me last week, Mandy Nolan is a whole lot of woman. 

What words can contain this mighty woman who I am lucky enough to call my witch, best friend, and sister. We met years ago on a couch when accidentally someone missed a flight and she had to step into interview me. I laughed and cried in that interview which is the usual with Mandy, but I didn't know that at the time. And that happy little accident was the beginning of nearly 10 years of our lives, work and families intertwining in one of the most supportive sisterhood and friendships I have ever known. She gets me, and I get her. We have many long and also rushed cups of teas where we try solve the problems of the world. We sit around planning rebellion and resistance and sometimes we feel crushed at the enormity of it all and the caring we carry on our shoulders. 

Many know her as a comedian, feminist, soon to be politician, activist, public speaker, writer, mother, kick ass Country Witch, but the depths of her are more than that. She is one of the most beautiful humans I have ever met as well and I don't know where I'd be without her in my life, honestly. 

I hope you dip into Mandy's work. You will fall head over heels in love.  

website: www.mandynolan.com.au

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What can I say about Emily Lubitz? I first heard Emily's voice at Queenscliff Music Festival years ago when she played a set before mine and I was just mesmerised by her and TinPan Orange and been her and the band's biggest fans ever since. When I first moved to the Northern Rivers, Bundjalung Country a friend put me in touch with another musician who had just recently moved here with kids as well. That was Harry James Angus. We hung out at the park with our two boys running amuck before going back to meet his wife. I nearly DIED when his wife was my biggest fan girl moment Emily Lubitz. I played it cool. real cool, but I was NOT COOL fumbling over words! 

Emily and I became quick cuppa tea pals, and would you believe they offered me BARRY'S TEA on arrival? I mean was that not just the sign of the best friendship to come. It has been amazing to have Emily living nearby, with both of us being in the music community and being mothers and navigating this crazy thing called full time music and I just love where our chats always go and so we sat down in the bus with a Cuppa and some Northern Rivers rain and recorded one of our cuppas for ye. Our chats went from touring, and Beyoncé through to our sneaking in creativity times in-between loads of laundries to our belief in the shifting plates in the music industry that we are witnessing and proud to be part of. 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT Emily Lubitz
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emily_lubitz/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1OP843bEcCoSoHaFLRtiWw

Very few artists can cradle your heart in their hands while they kick your ass, but after more than a decade touring with critically acclaimed indie-folk darlings Tinpan Orange, Emily Lubitz is striding out on her own. The six-foot tall frontwoman with the gossamer voice has combined forces with Freyja Hooper on drums and Winona Miller on bass to create a new, darkly romantic vision.

With that timeless, aching quality that only the great voices have, Lubitz is every singer’s favourite singer, a captivating live performer who has won the hearts of audiences around the world, and yet she is more priestess than popstar, creating her own iconography that sears itself into the listener’s imagination.

Lubitz tells us stories about everyday things, but her voice transfigures them into works of beauty, like a messy bedroom suffused with golden morning light.  Lubitz is a veteran of the scene, having performed on some of the world’s biggest stages and collaborated with the likes of Paul Kelly, Martha Wainwright, Clare Bowditch and the album she recorded with old friend Mama Kin, and yet her solo work is imbued with the raw energy of a breakthrough artist.

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It is Á Tea for Three this time with Susan Quirke and Ruairí McKiernan. 

This all started with previous podcast guest, Laura Murphy, poet and activist. She had introduced me to her dear Susan Quirke a few years back and online we chatted a little and more so when her plans to move over this side of the world were starting to unfold. It is a big move from Clare to this continent and when Susan and her husband Ruairí slowly made their way to Mullumbimby, I was honoured to welcome them to the area and share some cuppas. After a few Barry's without a microphone, I had to have them on the podcast for ye as there was so much gold in these chats and insights they bring bridging the same worlds I have for many years.  Oh my heart do I love how they show up, articulate things, and dig deep. This chat journeyed through their complex feels to arrive on stolen land, to their creative processes, burnout and mental health, all the shades of colonisation and the Irish stereotypes and human-ing beyond the boxes of that.  

Ruairí and Susan are just divine creatives and activists on beautiful missions and I am so lucky to now call them neighbours on their adventure to see what happens on this land for them. I know ye will fall in love with their  spirit and grace. It is an honour to catch the start of their journey here on podcast for ye.

Susan Quirke is an advanced certified meditation teacher, ceremony holder, and a leader of mass meditation experiences. She has brought meditation to thousands of people throughout Ireland and globally. Susan is also a multi award-winning social entrepreneur for her work in the field of mental health and wellbeing. Finally, she is a huge music lover, singer, songwriter, and recording artist who released her debut album ‘Into the Sea’ in 2021.
https://susanquirke.com/

Ruairí McKiernan is a multi award-winning global social innovator, campaigner, consultant, author, and speaker. In 2012, Ruairí was appointed to the Council of State by President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, where he served a 7-year term. A business graduate and Fulbright scholar, Ruairí is the founder and former CEO of the pioneering SpunOut.ie youth organisation, a founding board member of the Uplift civic action movement, and part of the founding team behind Gaelic Voices For Change. Ruairí is also the host of the chart-topping Love and Courage podcast and host of the Creative Souls of Clare podcast. He is a regular contributor to the media on issues surrounding societal wellbeing and leadership and community engagement. Ruairí's book Hitching for Hope - a Journey into the Heart and Soul of Ireland is an Irish Times number 1 bestseller and is published internationally in 2020 by US publishers Chelsea Green.
https://www.ruairimckiernan.com/

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DOBBY... oh my goodness what can I even say. 

I met Rhyan Clapham aka Dobby outside a hotel in New Orleans on the Folk Alliance Conference where we ended up in the same rooms at the same times many a times over the week. I adored his energy and thoughtful nature and we sat in some incredible listening and learning spaces together. Of course I was there to witness his showcase and thought I would love what he did just from our chats, but I was literally blown away by him, his music, his message.... the whole damn thing. My mind melted as I watched him literally RAISE THE ROOF off that hotel room on spirit and energy and move people in such profound ways. The power of music and the power of ancestors so strong. 

We shared a mad whirlwind of a night out in New Orleans on our final night and vowed to stay in touch back in so-called Australia and so we did. And so started the many cups of teas and adventures that have led to the honour that I have to call Dobby a friend, little brother, and a collaborator. 

We have joined forces in many ways in my live sets, under the same management, his inputs into We Call You Now, some collaborative writing and recording sessions and most recently in studio again he has started to produce my third album with me. All these things have been so natural and with so much ease and energy because we started in circle, in conversations, in exploration of so many of the invisible things that colonisation does and how we as individual artists and a collective of artists can make the invisible visible and then smash it!

This Cuppa went to so many amazing places about language, cultures, identity, genres and the incredible Warrangu River Story which is to be released very soon. Even in listening back to this podcast, I want to ask MORE, so be sure there will be a part II one day soon, but for now pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy this moment. 

DOBBY is a rapper, composer, producer and drummer. He proudly identifies as a Filipino and Aboriginal musician, whose family is from Murrawarri and Ngemba lands (Weilmoringle, Brewarrina NSW). As part of DOBBY’s (pre-covid) tour, he was labelled as the 2018 "BIGSOUND buzz act" with his live show being described as "mind blowing", "dynamic" & "powerful". As the tour continued internationally, DOBBY was listed by media reviews as one of the top 10 buzz acts to come out of both 2019 The Great Escape, UK, and Reeperbahn Festival in Germany, from a lineup of over 450+ artists!DOBBY is a multi-instrumentalist who's is increasingly being known for bouncing between piano, drums, & drum pads, with his unique signature ‘drapping’ (rapping & drumming at the same time).He has completed a BMus at UNSW, and an Indigenous Studies Honours (focusing on Aboriginal Hip Hop music) in 2015 and while he continues to make music and tour the world, he currently holds a 3 year position as the Indigenous Convenor at the ANU School of Music (ACT).

CONNECT WITH DOBBY:

https://www.facebook.com/DOBBYAU/

https://www.instagram.com/dobbyau/

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The Á Tea For Two Podcast is all about bringing you the conversations that happen over cups of teas between two creatives. There are creatives like me who are out front of stage, whose name is their art and I have brought you a year of artists like this so far. Our art is very visible and you know when you are in the presence of it because our music, artworks, poetry is in your earbuds and eye holes. But there are a whole layer of creatives in that process that get us out front and centre that unless you become aware of, you may not know exist, yet their practice and mastery of skills is just as intentional and deep as ours. They dress in black and hide behind desks, iPads, computers, lighting rigs. They may get a clap at the end of the night if us performers remember, but in general they aren't who a crowd remembers going to see. They are an army of unseen arts workers that have the ability to lift a show in ways not many of us are even conscious of.

In my continued conversations with creatives, I wanted to bring you one of the most creative souls who truly makes not only my job but so many other touring bands and recording artists jobs next level amazing.  I call him my bandmate even though he is not technically visibly on stage with me, but he is. He is very much there and I am always grateful. He hears, observes and sees things that I can't pick up on, it's not in my skills set, but learning from him has been a great gift over the past 3 years of touring. 

Over many cups of teas with James Boundy I have learned the art behind what he does. From the very first time he mixed a show of mine at Mullum Fest in 2017, I have loved the feeling he creates on stage and in a venue, but I didn't know the nuts and bolts of the intention behind all that until I started asking more questions. As music lovers, I think it is so enriching to understand more about this side of your listening experience. I love all the nooks and crannies Boundy brought us on through this podcast episode from bass sounds, to ear hairs, to Binaural recording, to mental health on the road for crew... this is an episode worth pouring a big cuppa for. 

ABOUT JAMES BOUNDY: 

Boundy is a free lance sound engineer based in Byron Bay. He has had over 15 year experience as a live and studio engineer for bands such as (Dune Rats, Tora, Parcels, The Bird, Last Dinosaurs and many other international and national acts) and run festivals stages from Woodford Folk Festival to St Kilda Festival to Mullum Music Festival. He is a tertiary sound engineer educator and an audio consultant. Boundy's reputation for enhancing the creative environment as well as pulling great sounds make him a valuable addition to any project in either an engineering or production capacity.  

website: http://boundysound.com/

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What a way to end Á TEA FOR TWO for a high note in 2022. With Kerryn Fields. I don't even know what to say about Kerryn apart from the majestic person that is Kerryn Fields is what you need in your ear buds this weekend. To be in story and space with her is a gift. Her songwriting and musicianship is ALL the things of course, but it is her essence which you feel when in Kerryn’s presence and you will feel it over this cuppa tea. Her essence is wildly infectious … her quiet way of getting shit done, her integrity, her showing up for everyone around her, her amazing stories and way of disseminating truth and healing from them. She makes me want to be a better human and musician. A true gift of a human and artist to my life. 

Over this podcast Cuppa you can’t but open your heart and fall in love with Kerryn. Whether her wit or our heart connection on making cups of tea for our Dads or we hit the big hard stuff of tokensitic booking in our careers and staying true to ourselves and taking no shit to carve our own identities and paths, Kerryn has a way about her.

Pop the kettle on and press play. 

Then share and tag for a chance to win a Taste Ireland Hamper.

More on Kerryn: Currently resident in Melbourne but originally from Te Kuiti, Kerryn Fields is an award-winning folk singer-songwriter with a distinctively deep, soulful voice and a penchant for confessional, storytelling songwriting. Her sophomore album ‘Water’, launched in July, is a veritable deep dive into the human experience, highly personal lyrics set against the backdrop of intimate picked guitars and lush harmonies.

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Our October Podcast happened magically on Samhain which as always with my beautiful sister Laura Murphy things happen in divine time. Laura is just incredible... a poet and incredible artivist and has been such a beautiful friend I met through the Trailblazery and the incredible work that Kathy Scott does in connecting deadly people. We connect on much to do with our Irish culture, mythology, history, the female experience in Ireland and also Laura spent time on this continent of so-called Australia too.

Laura and I have done MANY a long voicemail message to each other where we actually loose track of which one of us is speaking... as in the words, culture and thoughts seem to have been downloaded to both of us in the same way. This Podcast episode is such flow that goes from Poetry and the files (poets) of Ireland, Imbas Forasnai, Mother and Baby's Homes, speaking truth and camaraderie and sisterhood. I am so happy to share Laura with all that don't know her. She's someone I truly am forever inspired by and I love the support we have for each other's art and visions.

Connect with Laura Murphy on Instagram as @everose 
She is an activist, healer and Poet in Residence for Herstory; the powerful movement in Ireland telling stories of modern, historic and mythical women. Laura is a passionate campaigner for Ireland’s Mother and Baby home survivors and other issues surrounding equality, environmental and social healing including the recent successful campaign to make Brigid’s Day a national public holiday in Ireland. Laura’s work is centred around the ancient Irish poetic practice of “Imbas Forosnai,” which means “Inspiration that Illuminates.” Comparable to the Buddhist concept of “Enlightenment” or contemporary “Flow-State”, Imbas Forosnai is said to be a gift of the Goddesses Bóinn and Brigid. It was a practice mastered by the ancient poets of Ireland to bring truth to power and healing to society. 

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Á Tea For Two  is a place for the types of real chats that happen over a cuppa not all structured like a proper interview, just a place to let what is in the space between two creatives come up. The intimacy of a cuppa.... where the conversation can go anywhere?

This month's episode is a live recording from a recent show of More Blacks More Dogs More Irish at the Byron Theatre on the 28th August. This show was an incredibly collaboration between Bunyarra Culture Collective and I. The chat was from the panel which included Bunyarra members;  Cultural Educator, Auntie Delta Kay, Arakwal Bumberbin Bundjalung woman and Artist Nickolla Clark, Arakwal women from the Bundjalung Nation. The chats were just so damn wholesome that I had to edit it up and get it out there for ye on the podcast. You have to imagine our cuppa together cause Auntie Delta and Nickolla and I have shared many many many the cups of lemon myrtle tea around fibres weaving together or cups of Barry's tea hatching plans for shows together with Bunyarra Culture Collective and this chat is a little glimpse into the many hours of those chats where we have learned so much about each other's cultures and traditions. It is a beautiful thing to sit and have a safe space to chat through some of the hard things about what colonisation has left in us, but what is even more special is to have such a beautiful healing space where we can learn and grow together. A space of shared cultures and shared connections and collaborations. I love our little sparks that fly for our cultures and language and how they light each other up. It is beautiful reciprocity. It is healing in action.

plus... There is a bonus little song too at the end! 

The Irish words I refer to: 
diabhaltí - devilish, deadly
fite fuaite - interwoven

FIND MORE ON DELTA KAY HERE:
WEBSITE for Delta Bushtucker Tours: https://explorebyronbay.com/
INSTA for Delta: https://www.instagram.com/bunyarradubay

MORE ON NICKOLLA CLARK HERE:
INSTA for Nickolla and her Artwork: https://www.instagram.com/arakwal_nickolla_artworks

Delta Kay : Arakwal Bundjalung Woman, Cultural Walking Tours
Delta Kay is an Arakwal Bumberbin Bundjalung woman, proud mother and grandmother passionate about sharing culture and protecting Country. She is committed to working in genuine partnership with the local community to promote awareness, understanding and mutual respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.She runs Cultural Walking Tours and Bush Tucker Tours in the Byron Bay region - offering locals and tourists a deeper understanding of the local Arakwal Bundjalung people and the cultural significance of Byron Bay’s spectacular coast and rainforest.

Nickolla Clark: A young Arakwal woman of the Bundjalung nation,
Byron Bay, NSW.  Learning the culture from her Nan, Elder Dulcie Nicholls, she began painting at thirteen after she learned all things about country and what it has for us. 
Her artwork  predominantly involves painting and recently, screen-printing/lino printing depicts ancestral country, journeys and connections with fine rows of dots and lines marking out the locations of sand, sea, bush country, rivers, flood plains, waterholes and ceremonial sites, alongside totems, animals and sacred sites. It is an important part of her life and identity and an expressive means for her to share the knowledge and dreamtime of my people.

Support the show by sharing to win a Taste Ireland Hamper. 

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Á Tea For Two  is a place for the types of real chats that happen over a cuppa not all structured like a proper interview, just a place to let what is in the space between two creatives come up. The intimacy of a cuppa.... where the conversation can go anywhere?

I am honoured to have my friend, neighbour and fellow Vyva family member Luka Lesson join us this month for a real life Cuppa together in the bus and not just across the internet. Luka is an incredible poet, rapper, activist and god damn good human. We have got to know each other as neighbours in our small town. Although we were close in kilometres, the both of us have toured a lot and a lot overseas so ships passing in the night, and it took Covid to slow us down to really spend more time together. But then again in a small town, I suppose it was only a matter of time before our rebellious souls paths would have crossed anyways.

From the first show I saw of Lukas about 4 years ago until now, I have always been struck by how powerful Truth emanates from Luka. His words are powerful, but equally powerful is with conviction in which he holds himself in those words and truths on and off stage. Over our Cuppa we talk about these truths and how he got there. We talk about Barry's Tea and Greek Mountain Tea and Yogurt. We spoke about Greek Culture, Irish Culture, Museums and the stuff they steal, the power of the pen and author and who holds the pen and how both of us came to writing from the perspectives we write from. As well as some humorous things that have happened on and off stage. I know ye will love his way of putting words together and his powerful perspectives on many things which we learn came to him from an early age. He is poetry in motion. I love when a chat just naturally goes where it wants to go and this was one of those beautiful moments where some things wanted to be discussed in the space between Luka and I and it just emerged.

MORE ON LUKA LESSON:

WEBSITE for more info on Luka: https://www.lukalesson.com/

PATREON for Luka: https://www.patreon.com/lukalesson

Luka Lesson is a poet, rapper and educator of Greek heritage born in Meanjin/Brisbane. His work crosses between the history of his family homeland, the fiercely political and the vulnerably self-reflective. A former Australian Poetry Slam Champion (2011), Luka has featured at the mecca for slam poetry: the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe (NYC) multiple times, performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and toured with respected UK rappers Akala & Lowkey. Luka has released two collections of poetry independently: The Future Ancients (2013) & Antidote (2015) and two poetic rap albums: Please Resist Me (2012) & EXIT (2014).

Luka has always used poetry and rap writing workshops as a form of activism, helping young people to articulate and perform their work for the past 15 years in education centres worldwide, amplifying countless marginalised voices in the process. Luka's poems and rap verses are being studied on official school curriculums throughout Australia, and unofficially by rebellious educators worldwide.

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